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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 11, Issue 1 (April 1, 1936.)

Greymouth-Hokitika Line

Greymouth-Hokitika Line.

Karoro = seagull.

Paroa = spread out, or straggling settlement. Paroha = spread out, as a mat or garment.

Kūmara:

Sweet potato. Kumarahou, applied to several small shrubs; also kumara-rau-nui a shrub. Kūmara has the accent on the first syllable, but is popularly and erroneously pronounced by West Coast pakehas with the stress on the second syllable.

Awatuna:

Eel stream.

Arahura:

Literally, the pathway sought for or discovered. But this is an ancient Polynesian place-name given by Ngahue or other early navigators from the Eastern Pacific. It is the ancient name of Aitutaki, in the Cook Islands, and was probably given to the Arahura landing place and river in memory of the Pacific Islands home. In Polynesian pronunciation it is Ara'ura. When the schooner “Julia Pryce,” a small Auckland vessel wrecked at Aitutaki nearly fifty years ago was refloated and repaired by the natives she was renamed by the community of owners Ara'ura.

Kaihinu:

Eat fat or oil.

Ho Ho:

This exclamatory name, which some passing travellers think is Chinese, and others a local jocular greeting, is a pakeha rendering of houhou, the South Island word for the tree Panax arboreum abundant in these parts.

Hokitika:

Hoki = to return; tika = in a straight line. A traditional origin, referring to the ancient Polynesian navigator's explorations.

Takutai:

Sea-coast.

Mahinapua:

Mahina—the moon, pua, flower or bud, moon-blossom. Applied to the young moon rising.

Ruatapu:

Literally sacred pit or cave. An ancestral personal name.

Runanga:

Council; court; tribal judicial assembly of elders.